Shattering value
by TenroShibien
Summary: What could had happen to Raito and L in the after life? Have a cake and review.
1. Chapter 1

_**Shattering value**_

"There's a new rookie around here", the black Hades crossed his legs on his seat. He stirred the green fluid in the cauldron with his one hand and the other holding the death record. L watched Hades with the corner of his eyes, a hint of grin carven on his lips.

"New Rookie, name Yagami Raito, miserable death, I see", he muttered under his breath but loud enough for L to hear him. The raven haired spirit stood and drifted without a word. Since his death five years ago, he had been responsible to lead the new ghost whose death was of failure to the underworld gate. Old James, the previous ghost who had the duty for three thousand years took over Troy to guard the death entrance after Troy decided to haunt the chamber bellum in Hogwarts. Since then, his grudge against Raito had never end.

Furthermore, this was a good chance to laugh at the face of Yagami Raito who in similar to him, died of failure. However, L passed away in pride. At least, he wasn't wrong that Raito was actually the genocide killer that he was looking for.

L saw the _new_ ghost who was perching in sorrow on his own tomb. He was mourning to his own fate. However, it wasn't like L would actually take pity on Yagami Raito after all what he did to him. Genocide killer, how unforgivable! That revolting person had murdered many innocent people who stood in his way. It might be a good idea to leave him lost in his own world alone. He didn't need an acquaintance. He made use of the people around him.

"That damn Ryuuku, why was I so stupid to listen to him all this while?" he cursed out loud, his face was buried in shame in his hand. His mourning sounded like a deafening screech. L sat silently on one of the branches and watched the scene, not eagerly but happily._ How about that, Yagami Raito? Where is your honour now? _L's bell of thought rang in his invisible brain which made him chuckled in glee. He had never felt that delighted before, after his death. Now that Raito got what he ought to have earlier, L believed that he in some way had won against Yagami Raito, the worse living person ever in the world's history.

L's chuckle alerted Raito of his presence. Raito, without facing L because he was too embarrassed to face anyone including himself, spoke out. "Please, leave me alone", he kindly requested. L decided that it was the best time to start the conversation. Let's observe his reaction. "What d'ya knows? Yagami RaitoKira had come to try his faith here", the insult spouted out from L's mouth. L didn't have to be polite to Raito. He didn't trust the said person anymore even as a spirit.

Raito, feeling deeply wounded by the insult turned to look at L. He jerked in shock when he saw the ex-detective even after life. Only at that moment, he was lower that L Lawliet. In fact, he was lower than anyone else.

"Hello, Yagami Raito. Nice to see you again", L added as he bit the tip of his thumb and closed his knees to his chest which had been his regular pose; a pose that would never lost even in the spirit world, a pose that reminded Raito how he had once overpowered L, a pose of Raito's biggest guilt.

"Why are you so quiet? Too humiliated to speak out?" the question choked Raito's voice in his throat. He knew L wasn't going to tag along with him easily. L assumed this as his own advantage over the brunette mass murderer. Let the so called _god _suffered the consequences.

"Leave me alone", was all that he could say.

L lifted his left index finger in the air. "Nope, there's no way I can do that or Hades is going to kill me. You are going to come with me. Not as a friend, of course", he said and like the day he was being chained together with the loser, he led Raito to the main gate of the underworld.

Once they arrived at the gate, old James let them in, his eyes was tailing uneasily at Raito. He floated closer to L. "Who is that? I don't like him", asked James together with his opinion. "Yagami Raito, a mass murderer that I've been hunting for".

"Well, no wonder I felt a chill in my spine when I stare at him. How many did he kill?" James lowered his voice so that only he and L could hear each other. "A lot and almost uncountable. He's got involved with the shinigami and I think he died in that creature's hand. Saddo, isn't he?" L said followed by the laughter from the two.

Old James gaze at Raito again and headed back to his duty place. When they arrived at Hades, L introduced Raito to him. "You can have him, L if you wish to do so. Such a sad appearance he had and I don't think there is any job left to be occupied but the cells are always free", he pointed out and ignored them for the green fluid was already bubbling.

"Have he under me? I'll be glad so", uttered L and grinned sneakily again. Hades gave him authorization to have a control over Raito and now, the enemy was under him as a slave; another victory for L, zero for Raito.

He turned to Raito and smiled. "Do you know what's your biggest mistake is?" Raito shook his head, not daring to speak. "That is you kill me", L continued and then, dragged the pitiful but not so to him around the underworld land. _I win in the end. _The thought was dancing in his mind. Raito was his winning prize.

Since then, Raito Yagami learned his lesson, which was never to make a crime. However, he learned these far too late and now; everyone was looking down on him. Everyone was bullying him. Everyone was disrespecting him for his honour had shattered like broken mirror. He wished that he could rewind the time.

_Well, the pathetic loser died in the end. Thanks to Near! Hooray, for him. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Shattering value_

L slowly picked the fragile notes and attached them together with the special thread. He carefully sew the notes with its front and back cover to form a note book. Then, he knotted it neatly before cutting off the remaining thread.

"Familiar, isn't it?" he questioned his watcher and placed the black notebook on the pile. However, the brunette wasn't listening. Instead, he was trying to get some rest after coming back from travelling to Europe in one night to pick up another new ghost who had died hanging himself on the tree.

L poked the ghostly figure with his unearthly finger. "Oi, are you there?" he asked. Raito blinked and forced himself wide awake even though he could hardly keep up with the raven haired boy.

"Familiar, isn't it?" L repeated his unanswered question. Raito observed the pile of black notebook. Since when did L was working on those?

"In case you've forgotten, this is a death note", L reminded. Raito looked more intently. So, this is where the death note had been produced. Was this place is a factory for this kind of notebook?

"Hades told me, we manufactured the books for the Shinigami, not every year but whenever the king of the king sends him an order for the books. It seems that they have run out of it so they need more stocks", L explained.

"Interesting", Raito picked one of them and flipped the page open. The books were neatly made; very different from the previous one. The pages were also cleaner. Maybe, this was how L likes to work, always keeping his product in the best quality.

A few moments later, old James emerged from the granite wall and sat next to L. "Adieus, partner. What'cha got there?"

"A couple of death notes", L continued to attach the next piece. His hand gracefully dancing on the pages as he checked the number of pages on the notebook; he didn't want to make a slightest mistake or he would be facing the fuming Hades later.

A bad contribution would cost his liberty. He would rather be free roaming the earth rather than stuck in on dull place of nothingness.

Raito watched old James approaching him. When he was so close, the old ghost punched his elbow and cackled like mad. "What d'ya like!" he exclaimed and carry on cackling until his stomach ache.

It was madness; Raito didn't understand why James had to laugh at him like that. Every single of his visits, he had never missed a chance to snigger at him. The boy scratched his non itching hair in total confusion.

After that, like any other of his visits, he would go away which was a relief to Raito.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked under his breathe. L heard him but he focused on his job that needed to be done by midnight. "Give me a hand, will you?" requested L politely. If he wanted Raito to work under him, he would need to treat him better, even though at first he was thinking of torturing the boy for revenge but they needed each other for quite a long time and having a bad impression would be gratefully superfluous.

Raito took out another needle and started helping L. He managed to sew his first notebook after a ten times doing it wrongly. Then, he did the second and third rightly before he gave up on the fourth because of his exhaustion.

When he tried to sleep, old James drifted in again and hit his head with one of the notebook. "You're being to kind on him, L", James said and perched on the side table where the two were working.

"Someone with his mirror broken shouldn't be treated that way", he added and started laughing like mad again. "Mirror?" asked Raito uncertain of what James was mentioning.

"That's right. Mirror is the value of the person. What human always know as pride", James tangled the thread that L was using.

"Gosh, L. You look alike to Mandy Hoodwinked", cried James. The way L was sorting out with the sewing kits reminded him of the tailor's wife in his village. She should be long gone by now. The tailor wife who he had once confessed his love to her had rejected him for good which had led to the fight against Harry, Mandy's husband. Of course, James lost or he wouldn't be there with L and Raito.

"James, enough of talking. Go to your place already", L shooed him for good. James pouted but drifted heavy heartedly away from them.

Raito spied L's dull expression. He was looking as solemn as ever.

"Something's wrong?" Raito offered a comfort. L ignored him and put away the last death notes on the pile. Then, he lifted the load to the main antechamber where Hades was finishing filing the names in order.

"They're done", L placed the notebooks on the floor and left without words. In fact, Hades was also too busy to chat with him. Therefore, wandering around would be a good way to kill the time.

Raito caught up with him. He was still thinking about the mirror.

He decided to question L.

"L, what is this mirror?" and L stopped himself. He turned to look at Raito furiously. He disliked the fact that someone would be asking about the mirror. The word mirror was irritating.

"Don't think about it. Everybody knows that it is just a legend. It's not real", he said. "It's not real", he repeated and Hades voice called out from the antechamber to give him another duty.

_Want to know if the mirror is real or not, reviews! Thanks to __elomelo__torn pieces__, and __capturedangel225__ for the kind reviews on previous chapter. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Shattering Value_

Mello dragged the phantom to the main entrance of Hades kingdom. Like L, he too ended up in the place in between hell and heaven. It had been a while since he was gone hunting for the ruffedges (phantom that escapes from the cells). He hated his job. He hated it more than anyone else.

Old James greeted him but Mello gazed as cold as ever at him. The old ghost gulped and nervously grinned at him before going back to the gate. After throwing the phantom back into the cells, he went straight to the latent room and folded his jacket before closing his eyes.

He was trying hard to get some sleep when Raito and L stormed in from the wall.

"Come on, Ryuzaki, I don't mean to upset you when I asked about the mirror", Raito risked a punch from the ex-detective which missed an inch to his side. He didn't want to get hit for a ghost could have physical contact with a ghost, just like human with human. Furthermore, L had been so grumpy ever since their returned from China. No... He was actually starting to be like that since he asked about the mirror.

L looked down to the floor. Nobody knew what he was thinking. Raito would if he could see L's face but L refused to lift his head. A black shoe went through L's body. Raito who was shocked by the sudden attack turned to look at the direction where the shoe came from. Then, he saw Mello.

"Gosh, go flirting somewhere else. I'm trying to get some sleep", said Mello. However, he cracked into a slight laughter when he realised that the noise was coming from a quarrel between ex-KIRA and the ex-detective.

"I can't believe this. Must I have been dreaming?" he got up and observed closely at L and Raito.

"Dude, are you having some kind of relationship with each other?" Mello teased and grinned to his own amusement. A light pink tinted on Raito's cheek.

"Hey, don't jump into a sudden conclusion", Raito denied and turned away from Mello in embarrassment. L didn't look up but Mello bent down to look at his face. The ex-detective was flushing in red and the blonde boy believed that the red wasn't caused by anger.

"Then, explain yourself why you have to be shy about it", Mello waited for the two to respond. It was fun to wait for them to find the right excuse when it had been so obvious that there was something going on in between those two.

Or maybe they hadn't realised it yet but Mello was happy to assist them in such kind of things. It was better than hunting for random phantom that escapes from the cells.

"Shut up, Mello, go somewhere else. I can handle this myself", L shoved him away from them.

After sending Mello away, L glared at Raito murderously. "Don't ever bring it up again", he hissed and perched on the stone cold table. A screech like mourning that Raito had once made spouted from his mouth.

Why was L mourning for himself? Was there any correlation between mourning and the mirror? Was it something really terrible? The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.

It was old James that came to L's aid as Raito failed to stop L from sobbing uncontrollably. The old ghost patted his back and soothed it with some ancient joke that he learnt when he was still alive.

When L settled down a bit, old James left for there was someone calling for the door to open.

"What's that for?" Raito asked.

"What what?"

"You of all people should know what I meant. What was the mourning for?"

"It has nothing to do with you. Hush yourself and go find Mello if you want a company. I'm not in that mood right now".

"Don't act like you don't know me. I need an answer for my question".

"You don't and you'll never get. Don't act stubborn, Raito-kun. You are under me, remember that".

"That doesn't mean I ought not to get my answer. You stop acting like a kid and tell me what it is about", Raito snapped. As he spoke, he could feel his old courage overflowing his body, trying to dignify his old character; the stubborn and egoistic self.

L trembled in fear. He knew that Raito would return to his normal self, the arrogance bastard. When it turned out like this, L would be more helpless than anyone else and Raito would be the one who was leading him. Why was it always turning out this way? He could hardly figure out why or maybe it was just Raito had more persuasion in him rather than L.

"I'm waiting", Raito waited impatiently.

"You win", L said again. One for Raito, zero for L, again.

"That's not what I want to hear", Raito said. He folded his arm and stuck up a stern look on his face. His thirst for information was now burning deep in his throat.

"I'll tell you what it is but I'm not repeating myself. Bear in mind", said L. He gazed at the ceiling before turning to face the brunette.

"There is a tale about the mirror. Every human was born with a mirror that shows the value of a person. It is very fragile and if you hold it carelessly, it will drop and shatter into pieces. However, you can always fix it but to put together something that has broken is not easy. You can still do it after life and you will rest peacefully with bless from the god.

It is said that you will need to find several things in place you don't know where. First is the wing of friendship. Second is the length of bravery. Third is the cup of honesty and fourth is the heart of love. Whoever could gather it will make the adhesive of justice and they must sneak in the king of the king's only palace; the Shinagami realm and find the mirror pieces to mend it.

There hasn't been anyone that succeeded the quest and most of them was cursed to be a phantom and was locked in the cells. Therefore, I'd say it is impossible to actually fix something that hadn't appeared in our vision and nobody knew if the tale was real or not", said L.

Just opinion didn't satisfy the boy. From L's point of view, it seems like he would rather stay away from believing that the tale could be true. It was as if he was scared that his fate would turn worse than what he was now. However, staying away didn't work for Raito. He would rather take the consequences to change for the best, but he needed a companion because the tasks were not easy for him to handle them alone.

And he just knew where to start.

_I didn't mention if it is lemon or not but let's just say whatever you'd like to think and sorry for the long break. I'm just back from one month holiday. Enjoy… _


End file.
